The Nebraska Camp-Meeting
By George A. Irwin
THIS meeting was held August 10-20 in a beautiful grove one mile from the center of the city of Omaha. The camp-meeting was preceded by a workers' meeting, which began the third of August. While pitching the camp, and getting everything in readiness for the meeting proper, Bible studies were conducted each day, and when the meeting really opened, there was a good spirit from the very beginning. And this continued to increase until the close of the meeting. Revival services were held at different times during the meeting, and a large number professed conversion for the first time, while many others were reclaimed from a backslidden condition. Forty-one persons in all were baptized. There was the largest attendance of our own people that has ever been in a similar gathering. There were one hundred and seventy-two family tents, also a reception tent, book tent, grocer and dining tents, and five tents in which public services were held. In addition to the English services held in the large pavilion, there was a tent in which German services were held regularly, also one in which the message was preached in the Scandinavian tongue. There were eight hundred and thirty-five people encamped on the ground, and about one hundred occupied rooms near by; a number living in the city also attended the meetings. Services of various kinds were held at frequent intervals, and all of these were well attended, as well as the evening meetings. The preaching was of a very plain and decided character, largely on some phase of the message. The conference business was all finished in eight sessions, closing with the election of officers, and granting credentials to various persons who were called to labor in the conference the ensuing year. Elder A. T. Robinson was unanimously re-elected president of the conference, with Lewis Johnson as vice-president. J. J. Graf, R. F. Andrews, D. R. Callehan, G. Mathiesen, and C. H. Miller were connected with these brethren to make up the executive committee. The reports showed a healthy increase in all branches of the work. Five new churches were added. After supporting four laborers in foreign fields, and paying the accounts of the Nebraska laborers, there was a gain in the tithe over the preceding year of $3,030.78. From our side, from the very beginning, there was a good interest in foreign mission work; $358.25, mostly in cash, was realized as the result of the First-day and Sabbath offerings. By unanimous vote of the executive committee and the brethren assembled, this amount was increased by a donation from the tithe to one thousand dollars, and a check was written for the same and forwarded at once to the General Conference. A resolution was also passed in the conference that in view of the dearth of men and means for the foreign work, this conference will, so far as consistent, share its laborers and tithe with the General Conference. There was a good response made to the presentation of the plan for the sale and distribution of Sister White's new book, "The Ministry of Healing." Four hundred and twenty-eight books were subscribed for by forty-five persons. The various institutions located in the conference, such as Union College and the Nebraska Sanitarium, were quite fully and ably represented; the school by Professors Lewis and Kern, and the sanitarium by Dr. George and a large corps of nurses and assistants. Besides the conference laborers, K. C. Russell, Henry Shultz, G. H. Haffner, and the writer assisted in the meetings. Elder E. T. Russell, president of the Central Union Conference, after attending a portion of this meeting started for the Colorado camp-meeting, leaving Elder K. C. Russell and myself to remain here till the close of this meeting. So far as I was able to judge from what I saw and heard, there is an excellent feeling in the Nebraska Conference, and the brethren go home to their several localities with a determination to be more faithful not only in the payment of tithes and offerings, but in embracing every opportunity to present the precious truth to the people with whom they come in contact. Crop prospects are very fine in Nebraska, and everything seems to indicate a prosperous year in the work of the conference.
G. A. IRWIN.